Labelled With Love
by Amanda Hawthorn
Summary: James' words echoed inside his head, fleeting and fading as fast as they came. Lifting his eyes, he watched the woman who had brought him to life, her love radiating from every pore. How could he have ever thought he could live without her? Spoilers for 7x13


**Disclaimer: Burn Notice doesn't belong to me unfortunately.**

**A/N: First of all thank you to everyone who has reviewed my past stories, PM'd and for all of the favourite story and author adds. I am completely humbled by your kind words, and it is because of all of you that I am still writing.**

**Thank you as always to my wonderful friends Purdy's Pal, JediSkysinger and DaisyDay for keeping me smiling every single day. Burn Notice may be over but our friendship will last a lifetime. Special thanks to JediSkysinger who gave this a BETA for me despite being so busy.**

**Lastly thanks to Noelle and all the girls on twitter for your love and support**

**This story contains spoilers for the final episode of our beloved Burn Notice**

_**James' words echoed inside his head, fleeting and fading as fast as they came. Lifting his eyes, he watched the woman who had brought him to life, her love radiating from every pore. How could he have ever thought he could live without her?**_

Labelled With Love

The crackle from the fire and the warm glow that illuminated the room was enough to cause the little boy on the couch to stretch across his uncle's lap and yawn. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he settled against the warmth that radiated from the man who watched him with slightly terrified eyes.

Michael had no idea how to look after a child and the prospect of becoming a surrogate father scared him more than anything he'd done in the CIA. There were unwritten rules and responsibilities that both helped fill the void of losing his mother as well as causing him to miss her even more. These last few months had gone by in a blur and the grief had left him breathless on more than one occasion.

His mother's sacrifice had paved the way for him and the woman he loved to have this secret life. They were free now to indulge in the freedom they had only ever dreamed about. But that dream had cost both of them dearly and their makeshift family had splintered apart. Sometimes the pain and grief threatened to swallow him whole, but he also knew that the woman who had just entered the room would never let him stumble or fall.

Her presence filled him with unwavering comfort. She had been by his side for so many years and held his heart for as long as he could remember. The last year had been painful for both of them; they had hurt each other in so many ways, but in the end, he knew… it had always been her…

"_You gave it all up for her…"_

James' words echoed inside his head, fleeting and fading as fast as they came. Lifting his eyes, he watched the woman who had brought him to life, her love radiating from every pore. How could he have ever thought he could live without her?

She stepped over his outstretched legs and smiled down at him adoringly when he blushed beneath her gaze. Diverting his eyes, he turned his attention to the small child who had shifted in his sleep and reached across to pull the fleece blanket that had been on the back of the couch across his small body. With gentle fingers, he tucked the blanket down around him in before he turned to smile at the woman who had sat down beside him.

"He just fell asleep," he told her a little apprehensively when she granted him a bright smile. "Should I move him?"

He was looking at her as if she knew all of the answers and seeing that she was just as clueless as he was didn't fill him with a lot of confidence until she snuggled into his side.

"No," she told him with a knowing smile. "I think he's fine where he is."

Swallowing hard, Michael looked down at the dark head of hair and skimmed his fingers over the blanket before he released a soft sigh. Glancing back into the green eyes that had haunted him for over a decade, he realized that whatever challenges came their way from now on, they would face them head on… together.

"What do I tell him when he's older?" he asked, feeling his heart grow heavy once more beneath the strain of so many losses. "How do we explain all of this to him?"

Fiona leaned forward and placed her mug onto the coffee table before she turned back around to face him. The look in his eyes almost broke her heart and she knew that it was in these quiet moments that thoughts of his mother and everyone they'd lost came back to haunt him.

Lifting her hand, she placed it atop of his and squeezed his fingers gently with hers. She didn't have all of the answers; all she had was the promise that they would always be together… all three of them.

"Tell him the truth," she told him honestly as she sat back against his side and laid her head on his shoulder.

"I don't know where to start," he murmured on a sigh and he really didn't. His life had been one chaotic mess after another… and what if he told Charlie the truth when he was older and he hated him? He felt Fiona's hand tighten around his and once more he could feel all of the tension melt away when he inclined his head to gaze down at her.

"Start at the beginning," she told him with a smile. "Start with, _my_ name is Michael Westen and I used to be a spy…"

Michael could feel the darkness leave his heart when he bent his head to capture her mouth to leave a lingering kiss on her lips. She was his heart, his soul and everything in between. With her beside him, he knew he could finally rest and live the life that he'd promised her so long ago.

"We'll…tell him…together," he whispered as he peppered soft kisses over her cheeks. "We'll tell him all about his father and how his grandma was…so… "

Fiona heard the catch in his voice and pulled back slightly so that she could cradle his cheek in her hand. She could see his eyes awash with unshed tears and the pain from her loss etched so clearly within him. Madeline Westen has an enigma. She had given her life for her family and, no matter how many times she had made mistakes, that one final act had erased every single mark from the past.

"We'll make sure he knows them," she promised him with a watery smile, knowing that Madeline had always been more than a friend to her. "We'll keep _her_ memory alive."

Michael nodded. He too was feeling his own emotions welling up inside him. Blinking the tears away, he looked around their new living room and took in all of the colours that Fiona had chosen to bring their new home alive.

"Do you think she would have liked it here if things had been different?" Fiona asked him suddenly as she followed his gaze.

"I think so," he told her with a slight smile as he slipped his arm back around her shoulders. "Eventually!"

Fiona chuckled softly and sighed in contentment as she snuggled into his side again. Madeline would have hated their tiny little cottage that was tucked away in Adrigole, County Cork. It was isolated enough for them to live their lives in blissful seclusion where no one knew them from their old life. Knowing that her family were a few hundred miles away wore on Fiona's mind, but even though the three of them were listed as dead, returning back to her family home would have been a huge mistake.

Glancing down at the mop of dark hair nestled against her lover's thigh, she reached down to run her fingers through the child's soft hair. This poor little boy had been through so much in such a short time and the only blessing was that he wouldn't remember any of it when he was older. His mother, Ruth, had fallen into a deep depression after Nate was killed and it seemed that the comfort of the bottle had been too much to give up. Soon after Madeline had gained full custody, they'd had word that Ruth had taken her own life, leaving her child without either of his natural parents.

"What are you thinking?" Michael asked as he buried his lips into her hair to place soft, soothing kisses against her silken strands.

"What kind of parents are we going to be to him?" she asked as she nestled against him. "Can we even do this?"

"We've been doing okay for the last few months," Michael whispered reassuringly, pulling her into his side. "I think we're going to be okay."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I think so, too…"

They fell into a comfortable silence; the only sounds to fill the room were from the crackling of the logs on the fire. Fiona released a solemn sigh when she thought of everything they had lost over the years, but all of that sadness suddenly slipped away when Charlie opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Hey," she cooed softly when the child manoeuvred himself around to clamber across Michael's lap to fall into her arms.

Fiona held onto him and nestled her cheek against his hair, pouring as much love into him as she could. She wound her arms around his small body and pressed her lips against his temple, whispering over and over the pet name she had started to call him.

"Are you tired, angel?" she asked softly as she unconsciously rocked him from side to side. At his silent nod, she placed a soft kiss against the top of his head and lifted her eyes up to the man she loved.

"Come on," Michael soothed, his voice as soft as hers. Reaching forward, he held out his arms to the little boy in Fiona's lap and scooped him up against his hip when he shuffled forward.

Charlie yawned again and waved to Fiona as Michael stood up to his full height. Fiona watched the two men in her life as they left the room and felt her heart clench a little when the little boy laid his head against Michael's shoulder. She had never really been the maternal type, but then she had never had the chance. She had been running on all cylinders since she had lost Claire; she hadn't even had time to think. It seemed that she had been fighting her entire life, until now.

It took a fake funeral and Madeline's death for all of them to finally be free and she owed it to her surrogate mother's memory to live every second of their new life. Getting up from the couch, she wandered across to the window to look out into the dark winter sky. It had been so long since she'd seen snow and even longer since she'd actually built a snow man. She and Michael had been so busy looking over their shoulders that they hadn't allowed Charlie to enjoy those simple things like playing in the white wintery playground. Well, from tomorrow on that would all be changing. They were free; no one was looking for them and they could finally relax and enjoy being a family.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear Michael when he re-entered the room. She startled a little when he slipped his arms around her from behind, his warmth seeping into her body.

"Is he okay?"

"Hmmm…" Michael's voice hummed against her temple as he tightened his hold. "He was asleep before I left the room."

"He's been through so much."

"We all have," he sighed as he closed his eyes against the welling tears that stung when his mother's face sprang into his mind.

"I'm sorry, I…" Fiona's voice trailed away as she thought of all the apologies they both should have spoken of but hadn't. She regretted the pain she caused Michael when she had tried to move on with another man, but she had ended up hurting Carlos too with words of love that she knew weren't true. She hadn't realized how much she'd needed someone to tell her that she was loved. But when she heard those words from a man who wasn't Michael, the impact left her with nothing but a deep set ache.

"It doesn't matter now," he whispered, knowing that she still had so many regrets from their time apart. He did too, deep regrets for everything he'd put her through over the years.

Fiona turned in his arms and collected a kiss from him before she pulled back to look up into his eyes. He had never spoken the words aloud, but he didn't need to any more. He'd told her the second he'd uttered '_I know'_ in reply to James' bitter words. By choosing her over his old life, Michael had given her everything and more with those two little words.

She could feel a burning heat rising up inside her body and she realized in a heartbeat that she desperately needed to show him just how much she needed their connection right now. She drank in the sight of him, her eyes memorizing every line on his face. They hadn't been fully together in such a long time, both of them pouring everything they'd had into finding a new home and taking care of Charlie. She lifted herself up higher until she reached his lips… sealing them together in a long, lingering kiss.

When they slowly parted, his eyes met hers and, in that one precious moment, everything was understood and they knew that the mistakes from the past could no longer hurt either of them.

Wordlessly, they came together, their lips drifting closer as the magnetic pull between them fused them as one. The gentleness of their kiss slowly became more demanding as their bodies reacted to each other with a familiarity that only long time lovers could know.

Hopelessness and pure need fuelled them further, along with the deep set longing that had kept them pining for each other for over a decade. Michael groaned into her mouth when she increased the pressure of her lips, her kisses becoming more demanding in her bid to show him how much she needed this. Her body shivered slightly when his hands roamed her back and groaned with desire as his fingers snaked across her skin.

With skilful touches, he set her on fire only to soothe the flames with his lips. The relief was short lived when Fiona responded to him in every way, her hands taking a journey of their own. When she raked her fingernails across his shirt covered skin, the soft whimper that escaped his throat left her in no doubt that he needed this just as much as she did.

Taking a step backwards, he took a few moments to take in the beauty that had captured his heart so long ago. She had always been the only woman to penetrate his soul and now he had a life time to show her just how much he had always wanted her. Holding out his hand, he watched her with desire filled eyes as she moved towards him and clasped his fingers. No words were spoken as he turned to lead her out of the room, knowing that every step took them closer towards the bliss that had always encompassed their love making.

He led her up the creaky staircase, turning lights off along the way until they came to the narrow hallway. They came to a stop in the doorway to Charlie's bedroom, both of them keeping a silent vigil over the sleeping child until they were satisfied that he was indeed really asleep.

Squeezing her fingers, Michael gazed down into her love filled eyes and pulled her with him as he led her towards their own bedroom, knowing that for the first time since they'd left Miami, they could finally settle into a normal life. They had come full circle, returning to the country that had brought them together so long ago. They had new identities and brand new names…except their names weren't so _new_.

This was their life now… their little piece of paradise… and with Charlie in their care, Michael and Fiona McBride had finally returned home…

The End


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